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Biblical Illiteracy and Islam

April 29, 2005

Biblical illiterates in our churches abound. We talk about the general "evangelical" church and its decline, but assume we who are "reformed and churched" are immune from spiritual and intellectual decline. The Islamic Research Foundation International has taken notice. They site our lack of Bible knowledge when they form their prostelization efforts. This article about Christian's lack of basic biblical knowledge appears on their website.

This hit home yesterday as we studied Romans in our Women's Bible Study. We as a group tried to name all ten commandments (we were studying Romans 13). We failed! According to a study done in 1999, six out of ten Americans cannot name 1/2 of the ten commandments. As a group of churched women, we could only name seven.

We read Jonathan Edwards, debate the fine points of Luther's teachings, discuss John Piper's latest book - but we cannot name the ten commandments. I think we all need to go and shore up our foundations, catechize our children and ourselves, and return to Sunday School basics. Islam is on the march - we as people of the Word, need to learn the Word!